I’ve seen Doug Flutie listed as 5’10” on several sites. What kind of shoes was he wearing in that measurement, or what was he standing on?
There’s no way Flutie is 5’10” and I’ll bet my platform shoes on it.
Flutie was one of the smaller quarterbacks in the modern era, but he was also one of the best. At least he was one of the best on the college level, which was proven by his 1984 Heisman Trophy.
Apparently, the Flutie family moved around a lot when Doug was growing up. By his high school years, the family lived in the Boston suburb of Natick.
Naturally, star quarterback Doug Flutie was not highly recruited even back in the early 1980s because of his lack of size. The local school, Boston College, was the only division 1 school to offer him a
scholarship.
This turned out to be a good deal for both parties as Doug Flutie moved into the starting lineup as a freshman in 1981.
It was not a good season for the Eagles ending with a 5-6 record, but it would be Flutie’s last losing season at Boston College. They improved to 8-3-1 in 1982, then 9-3 in 1983.
Boston College started off the 1984 season ranked 19th. With a win over a non-major school in Western Carolina, they soon would have their hands full with 9th ranked Alabama.
The Eagles traveled to Birmingham, Alabama and surprised the Crimson Tide by beating them, 38-31.
After an impressive win over North Carolina, the Eagles found themselves suddenly in a very strange place. They were ranked 4th in the polls. That lasted through a win over Temple, but then they were beaten by 20th ranked West Virginia by a single point.
They beat Rutgers, but then lost again at Penn State and this was not one of Joe Paterno’s good teams.
Boston College bounced back to beat Army and Syracuse to improve their record to 7-2 on the season.
Next up was the defending national champions, the Miami Hurricanes.
The Miami Hurricanes had been a bad team for a long time. Finally, they hired the pipe smoking Howard Schnellenberger and he turned the program around by mostly trying to keep all of the best south Florida recruits at home while supplementing that talent with some top national players. That plan was actually first implemented by previous head coach Lou Saban, but he left suddenly to take another job.
They recruited super quarterbacks like Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jim Kelly and Bernie Kosar. But, they recruited more than just quarterbacks and had enough talent to shock the nation with a huge New Year’s Day of the incredible and supposedly unbeatable Nebraska Cornhuskers. Miami came into the game ranked 4th, but nobody gave them a shot at actually winning the game. The Canes did win the game, but only after they held off a furious Nebraska come back and a last second two point conversion attempt.
Schnellenberger left after the 1983 season to take a job with the short lived United States Football League and the Hurricanes hired Jimmy Johnson away from Oklahoma State.
Jimmy Johnson was confident and he was cocky. Some people thought he was arrogant, but it didn’t matter to Johnson what they thought. He was actually an unknown when Miami hired him and had had only reasonable success at Oklahoma State with a 29-25-3 overall record.
Miami began the 1984 season ranked 10th, but they beat the top ranked Auburn Tigers in game one and then beat the 17th ranked Florida Gators in game two. By then, the pollsters had seen enough and had them ranked number one.
But, that lasted only a week before they visited the Big House and the 14th ranked Michigan
Wolverines stuffed them. They beat Purdue, but then rival Florida State really stomped them, 3-38.
The Canes plugged along and won 5 in a row including a win over 16th ranked Notre Dame.
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The once top ranked Hurricanes were now 8-3 and ranked 12th.
It was the 12th ranked Hurricanes hosting the 10th ranked Boston College Eagles.
It was Bernie Kosar versus Doug Flutie.
As can be imagined, this was a wild one from the opening kickoff. Boston College took a 14-0 lead early, but Miami came back to tie. This was a shootout from beginning to end. But, the fourth quarter was the wildest of them all.
The score was tied 31-31 at the end of the third quarter. Boston College kicked a field goal to go up by 3 points. But, Miami was far from done.
Freshman running back Melvin Bratton looked like a super star in this game and he scored on an impressive 52 yard touchdown run. With Miami now leading 38-34, Flutie drove the Eagles downfield where they scored to go up again, 41-38.
There was almost 4 minutes left on the clock when Miami got the ball back and they were not to be denied. They drove it 79 yards and Bratton scored again to give the Hurricanes a game clinching 45-41 lead, or so we all thought.
There was just 28 seconds left in the game. What could happen?
Boston College and Doug Flutie were determined.
Flutie completed two passes for 19 and 13 yards to take the Eagles barely into Miami territory, just across the 50 yard line.
With just 6 seconds remaining in the game and Boston College with the ball at the Miami 48 yard line, Flutie dropped back to pass. Under heavy pressure, Flutie rolled out to his right and from about the Boston College 40 yard line, Flutie heaved it to the goal line. Miraculously, the ball sailed over several Miami player’s hands and right into the midsection of Boston College receiver Gerard Phelan.
Everyone went wild! With no time left on the clock, Doug Flutie, Phelan and Boston College had down what seemed impossible.
The Doug Flutie thrown Hail Mary is one of the most famous plays in college football history. Some people say all the Heisman Trophy votes had already been cast. Others say that this very play won the Heisman Trophy for Doug Flutie over Ohio State’s Keith Byar’s.
Either way, this could be called Flutie’s Heisman moment. It did save Boston College’s season and
allowed them to finish with an impressive 10-2 record.
Miami was not so lucky. This play seemed to rub in the Maryland loss and they finished 8-5 on the year. The 5 losses in 1984 were more than Jimmy Johnson’s Miami teams lost during his final four years in Coral Gables. For his last four seasons in Miami, the Hurricanes posted an enormously
successful 44-4 record with a national championship in 1987.
Flutie threw 46 passes that day, completing 34 which were good for 472 yards and 3 touchdowns including the Hail Mary. Eagle wide receiver Gerard Phelan caught 11 passes for 226 yards.
For Miami, Bernie Kosar threw the ball 38 times and completed 25. He threw for 447 yards and 2 touchdowns. All American wide receiver Eddie Brown caught an amazing 10 passes for 220 yards. Bratton ran for 134 yards on 16 carries.
It was quite the day for both team’s offenses.
This was one of the greatest games of all time, but what I remember about as well as anything was a dejected Bernie Kosar walking off the field with his head down. It was difficult not to feel bad for the man coming off of a championship season. I will also never forget Doug Flutie shaking hands with Miami players and asking ‘where’s Bernie’.